Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Providence Fight Club: UL-7I8 5.8.2014

UL-7I8 System, Catch region. On the 5th of August, forces belonging to Providence Bloc and HERO Coalition clashed in the system for four hours, over the Infrastructure Hub's reinforcement timer.Providence Bloc forces formed early for the timer, in a sixty pilot fleet comprised mainly of Rupture and Caracal class Cruisers. They were met by a ninety pilot Moa class Cruiser fleet fielded by HERO Coalition. As both forces entered the system, a battle developed on the OXIY-V gate. However, with the strong logistics backing of HERO Coalition's fleet, and the clear lack of damage from Providence Bloc's side, Providence Bloc decided to concede the field and re-ship.The second attempt was made with a seventy pilot Prophecy class Battlecruiser fleet. As it entered the system, it was accompanied by a thirty Ishtar class Heavy Assault Cruiser gang belonging to the Stain-Wagon Coalition. Contact with the Stain-Wagon Fleet Commander was established earlier when they caught wind of HERO Coalition's movement. A decision was made to hold a mutual truce, so long as HERO Coalition forces were in the system, however, both fleets acted independently of each other during the rest of the battle.

With the entry of the two fleets, HERO Coalition opted to engage once more. Yet, with the better tank of the Battlecruisers and the Ishtars kiting and applying pressure as well, HERO Coalition was forced to retreat, especially after Providence Bloc forces called two Triage Archon class Carriers into the field to bolster their logistics capability. Emboldened by their victory on the OXIY-V gate, Providence Bloc forces warped to the Sovereignty Blockade Unit anchored by the G-AOTH gate, and attempted to remove it.However, HERO Coalition forces were not giving up, and warped on top of the Providence Bloc logistics. At the same time, a HERO Coalition bomber wing executed a bombing run of its own. With these events occurring, Providence Bloc found itself in a bad position, and it was soon evident that the fire exchange will only go HERO Coalition's way. Thus the order to retreat was given, with the core of the Providence Bloc fleet managing to extract out of the system.A third attempt was made, with Providence Bloc re-shipping to an eighty pilot Zealot class Heavy Assault Cruisers. However, a quick sortie on the OXIY-V gate convinced Providence Bloc it lacked the logistics backing to sustain a prolonged engagement, and once more was forced to retreat.Though another attempt was under way to dislodge HERO Coalition from the system, scouts reported that the Infrastructure Hub was pushed to its final reinforcement mode, and thus the the fleet was disbanded. Stain-Wagon Coalition itself remained in the system for a time, harassing HERO Coalition forces and re-shipping once more, but overly did not fare much better than Providence Bloc.Though Providence Bloc took a heavy beating, losing more than a hundred ships in the engagement, HERO Coalition itself came out bloodied, losing approximately seventy ships, half of the ships they fielded during the battle. It is certain though, that on the tactical and strategic levels, Providence Bloc did lose, even if it did manage to postpone the reinforcement of the Infrastructure Hub by four hours.The fixed battle report can be found here.